Apparatus for electroplating



(No Model.) 1 2 Sheets-Sheet}.

G.- F. BRUSH.

APPARATUS FOR ELEGTROPLATING.

No. 297,669. Patented Apr. 29, 1884.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet :3.

C. F. BRUSH.

APPARATUS FOR ELEOTRQPLATING.

No. 297,669. Patented Apr.-Z9,1884.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ,QFFICE.

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APPARATUS FOR ELEVCTROPLATING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 297,669, dated April 29, 1 884.

Application filed May 27, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be'it known that 1, CHARLES F. BRUsH, of Oleveland,i11 the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Electroplating; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in in practice.

the art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to the electroplatingof the carbons used in the production of electric light; audits object is to provide convenient appliances for carrying on the process rapidly and economically, and to secure an equal deposit of metal on all the carbons plated simultaneously. I

In Letters Patent No. 196,425, granted to me October 23, 1877, I have pointed out some of the advantages and functions of an electro-.

deposit of copper or other suitable metal when applied to the rods or sticks of carbon used in electric lighting, and therefore will not recount them here. In the following description of my invention I will assume that copper is the metal to be applied to the carbons, although I do notin any-manner limit myself to this metal, as any other suitable metal may be applied in the samemanner by correspondingly changing the solution and anodes employed. When several sticks of carbon are attached,by clamps or wires, in the usual manner, to one conductor and subjected to the action of an electric current in a copper bath, the metal is liable to be deposited very unequally on the several carbons. If the carbons were precisely alike in texture and conduc-.

tivity, and were equally well connected with the source of current, this unequal action would not occur; but these favorable conditions cannot be attained with any degree of certainty When unequal action has once commenced, its cause becomes aggravated as the process proceeds, because those carbons which, owing to superior conductivity or connection, first receive a covering of metal are relatively to the othersstill more 'favorably circumstanced to receive a further deposit, owing to their increased conductivity, due to the metal covering them. Since it is essential that the metal coating of carbons to be used for electric lighting should be of a certain thickness, depending on the size of the carbons and, the strength of the current employed in order to secure the best results,

the evil I have pointed out becomes a serious obstacle to their manufacture. I overcome the above-described difficulty entirely by employing' a separate anode and bath for each carbon to be plated, arranging the several baths, to the number of many hundreds, if desired, in series, like the cells of a battery arranged for tension, and passing a current of suitably small volume and sufficiently high electro-motive force through the series. Since the passing current is the same in all the cells or baths, the amount of metal deposited thereby is necessarily the same in all.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents, partly in section, one view of an apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 shows in detail the clamp E. Fig. 3 shows an end view of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 shows the multiple series modification of my invention. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of a cell with a tube inserted therein for furnishing a blast of air to the solution for stirringits contents. Fig. 6 is a view in side elevation of the pivoted frame adapted to be tilted foremptying the jars, and also provided with a bar for simultaneously raising and lowering a series of the carbons.

In Fig. 1, A A are glass jars arranged side by side in a suitable frame or rack. (Not shown.) G O are copper cylinders placed inside the j ars. D Dare the carbons to be plated, supported inside the copper cylinders bymeans of clamps E E, attached to rods F F. These rods slide vertically through metallic eyesattached to the frame G, so as to allow the insertion of the carbons. The carbon of the first cell is attached to the negative pole of the current-generator H, while the copper cylinder of the same cell is connected electrically with the carbon of the second cell, and so on through the series, until finally the copper cylinder of the last cell is connected with the positive pole It consists of a metal tube slightly larger internally than the carbon 1), having its lower portion split into several sections, as shown. These are then bentinward, so as to grasp the carbon D tightly, and make sufficiently good electrical connection therewith when one end (preferably the pointed end) of the latter is thrust into the tube. A screw-clamp may also be used, but is not so convenient.

The frame G, Fig. 1, may be arranged so as to admit of being raised or lowered, thus simultaneously immersing or lifting from the jars A all the carbons D; or a bar, U, may be employed, as shown in Fig. 6, for this purpose when the jars are mounted in a swinging frame.

Any suitable means may be employed for stirring the solution in the several jars from time to time to keep it sufficiently homogeneous. A small jet of air forced through a tube, T, to the bottom of each cell, by means of the mouth or otherwise, so as to rise in bubbles through theliquid, is a convenient method. Small tubes of metal or rubber may be placed permanently in all the cells, if desired, and supplied with a blast of air from time to time, as required, by means of a bellows or otherwise.

The rack supporting the jars A A and frame G may be hung on trunnions at its ends, as shown in end elevation in Fig. 3. This arrangement admits of readily emptying all the jarsA A by dumping their solutioninto a suitable receptacle, and of quickly washing them out by directing a jet of water into them successively while in the horizontal position.

In practice I find it convenient to employ several sets of apparatus such as I have described, the plated carbons being removed from and fresh ones supplied to each set sue cessively while the plating process is going on in the other sets.

Fig. 4 illustrates diagrammatically how two or more sets or series of apparatus such as I have described may be arranged in multiple are and operated simultaneously by one current, which thus divides itself between them. In this case the total electrical resistance of the several cells is liable to be very nearly the same in each of the different series, since it is the average cell multiplied by the number, so that the same advantage of uniformity of product is obtained in this series multiple arrange ment, if properly proportioned, as in the simple series arrangement first described.

\Vhat I claim is I 1. The combination, with a number of electroplating-baths, each provided with an anode adapted to surround an electric-light carbon, of devices for supporting an electric-light carbon centrally (or approximately so) within each anode, and electric conductors for connecting the electroplating-baths in series, so as to be traversed by the same current, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination,'witl1 a number of electroplatingbaths, each provided with an anode adapted to surround an electric-light carbon, and electric conductors for connecting the baths in series, of devices for supporting an electric-light carbon centrally (or approximately so) within each anode, and for raising and lowering said carbons, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with a number of electroplating-baths, each containing an anode adapted to surround an electric-light carbon, of a series of clamps, each adapted to support an electric-light carbon centrally (or approximately so) within each anode, and means for raising and lowering the clamps simultaneously, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with a tilting frame having a series ofjars or receptacles supported therein, each jar or receptacle being provided with an anode and suitable bath, of devices for supporting an electric-light carbon in each bath, electric conductors for connecting the baths in series, and devices for raising and lowering the carbons simultaneously, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

" CHARLES F. iRUSH.

Vitnesses:

Jxo. CRownLL, J r., HERMAN Moms. 

